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KASA (Box) Magazine – 2010 – Issue 29 (July/August) NO HEALTHY COLD CHAIN WITHOUT THE APPROPRIATE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS
Developments on current agenda items were shared in the Vision 2011 conference organized by SAFKAR with truck box manufacturers and cold service providers in attendance.
One of the largest designers and manufacturers of climatization systems in Europe as well as in Turkey, SAFKAR underlined the importance of cold chain along with economic developments in the Vision 2011 conference it organized.
Participants in the conference included SAFKAR General Manager Doruk Aydın, Logistics Association (LODER) Chairman Prof. Mehmet Tanyaş, LODER logistics specialist Tuncay Aydın, and economist Prof. Deniz Gökçe.
Topics related to cold chain made the main agenda item at the conference where LODER Chairman Prof. Mehmet Tanyaş offered logistic evaluations and economist Prof. Deniz Gökçe analyzed the economy.
Speaking first, SAFKAR General Manager Doruk Aydın noted that SAFKAR operated with a production capacity of 15,300 units annually in its Izmir plant. Aydın went on to say, “We export to 33 countries with our R&D staff of 60 and our 336 dealers throughout the world. Our vision is to become a design partner of choice in the Europe and Middle East markets through what we refer to as core market operations. There are a number of key things we need to do right in order to achieve that. One of them is the capability of developing projects. Next comes the development of a sustainable competitive approach by standing by our customers through after-sales services.”

SAFKAR is coming up with new products

Mentioning the projects the R&D team was working on and the products they introduced to the market, Aydın provided the following information on these operations: “We’re gradually adding the heating option to our refrigeration segment. If you’re exporting to a variety of locations, refrigeration alone may not be enough. In cold areas, the transport refrigerator must also have a heating feature because products have to be kept within a certain temperature range in order to make sure their qualities are preserved. These heating options will be made available to the industry very soon.
“Another set of products we’re renewing is our 200 volt and 380 volt electrical devices that are currently in the design stage. These will enable certain end users to keep their products cold by simply plugging in their devices.
“We also have new projects involving corrosion-resistant products. We’re currently engaged in infrastructural work on protecting products operating on salty roads from the external effects of corrosion and on diesel units. These innovations will also be available on the market in the near future.”
Stressing that SAFKAR was a market leader in countries such as Iran, Tunisia, and Azerbaijan in addition to Turkey, Aydın said their success was driven by product development, noting that thermodynamic and external factor tests on all products were conducted using their own means.

336 after-sales centers across the world

Reporting that all of the refrigeration systems manufactured by SAFKAR were going to be ATP-certified by the end of this year, Aydın offered the following information on after-sales services: “In a way, after-sales is a follow-up on customer performance, a way of making sure that our products are used correctly and that customers derive the maximum efficiency from them. We’ve achieved some major developments in this area. We set up an operations center in Germany where we conducted a number of projects for the purpose of expanding our after-sales network in the Western European market. This facility will also unable us to supply the network with spare parts and offer product-specific trainings. We raised the number of our after-sales centers to 336 throughout the world. We established 54 after-sales centers in Spain, 34 in Russia, and 12 in Italy. We offer ten years of spare parts availability in addition to a two-year after-sales guarantee. More than 20,000 SAFKAR units operate worldwide under our guarantee today. Just to illustrate the importance we attribute to after-sales: we set up two after-sales points in Northern Iraq this year.”

Healthy transportation for healthy foods

Tuncay Aydın, a specialist in cold chain logistics and cold chain distribution at LODER, reported that LODER shared with suppliers the important projects it carried out. Underlining the fact that food of which the cold chain had been broken at any point along the supply chain could not be qualified as reliable, Aydın stressed that changes in temperature and unhygienic conditions triggered the multiplication of microorganisms. He went on to say, “When we consider why the cold chain is so crucial, we see that temperature plays a key role in the preservation of perishable foods such as meat, milk, and fish. It’s essential that the cold chain is not broken at any stage from production to consumption and that all operations are performed under hygienic conditions in order that the foods don’t go stale and microorganisms don’t breed.
“All companies that receive and provide services must have a quality certificate. All firms engaged in the food business must have a HACCP certificate. The products must be received at the appropriate temperature and shipped also at the appropriate temperature and under hygienic conditions. The provisions laid down in the HACCP and food regulations must be complied with in all phases.
“Looking at Turkey, a large number of firms fail to fulfill these requirements. There can be many reasons for this but it must be realized that this is a requirement, not an option. All thermal equipment must be certified. They must be calibrated regularly and checked at appropriate intervals.”

A good box is needed for good refrigeration

Also emphasizing that the transport refrigerator should be suitable to the product, Aydın informed that the hauling capacity of the vehicles was very important, too. “The thickness of the box walls and the heat-insulating properties of the box are highly critical. We often witness a poor box on a vehicle with a good transport refrigerator with the result that the temperature cannot be maintained.”

Touching upon the importance of the ATP convention, a current agenda item although Turkey was not yet a party to it, Aydın predicted the disorganized business of the transportation of perishable foods would be improved if Turkey joined the convention that had been adopted by 41 countries.